American War Crimes
'''''American War Crimes The indiscriminate use of bombs by the US, usually outside a declared war ' '''situation, for wanton destruction, for no military objectives, whose ' 'targets and victims are civilian populations, or what we now call ' '''"collateral damage." Japan (1945) China (1945-46) Korea & China (1950-53) Guatemala (1954, 1960, 1967-69) Indonesia (1958) Cuba (1959-61) Congo (1964) Peru (1965) Laos (1964-70) Vietnam (1961-1973) Cambodia (1969-70) Grenada (1983) Lebanon (1983-84) Libya (1986) El Salvador (1980s) Nicaragua (1980s) Iran (1987) Panama (1989) Iraq (1991-2000) Kuwait (1991) Somalia (1993) Bosnia (1994-95) Sudan (1998) Afghanistan (1998) Pakistan (1998) Yugoslavia (1999) Bulgaria (1999) Vardarska (1999) US Use of Chemical & Biological Weapons ' '''The US has refused to sign Conventions against the development and use of ' 'chemical and biological weapons, and has either used or tested (without ' 'informing the civilian populations) these weapons in the following ' '''locations abroad: Bahamas (late 1940s-mid-1950s) ' Canada (1953) China and Korea (1950-53) Korea (1967-69) Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia (1961-1970) Panama (1940s-1990s) Cuba (1962, 69, 70, 71, 81, 96) '''And the US has tested such weapons on US civilian populations, without ' '''their knowledge, in the following locations: Watertown, NY and US Virgin Islands (1950) ' '''SF Bay Area (1950, 1957-67) ' 'Minneapolis (1953) ' 'St. Louis (1953) ' 'Washington, DC Area (1953, 1967) ' 'Florida (1955) ' 'Savannah GA/Avon Park, FL (1956-58) ' 'New York City (1956, 1966) ' '''Chicago (1960) And the US has encouraged the use of such weapons, and provided the ''' '''technology to develop such weapons in various nations abroad, including: Egypt ' '''South Africa ' '''Iraq US Political and Military Interventions since 1945 ' '''The US has launched a series of military and political interventions since ' '1945, often to install puppet regimes, or alternatively to engage in ' 'political actions such as smear campaigns, sponsoring or targeting ' 'opposition political groups (depending on how they served US interests), ' 'undermining political parties, sabotage and terror campaigns, and so forth. ' '''It has done so in nations such as China (1945-51) South Africa (1960s-1980s) France (1947) Bolivia (1964-75) Marshall Islands (1946-58) Australia (1972-75) Italy (1947-1975) Iraq (1972-75) Greece (1947-49) Portugal (1974-76) Philippines (1945-53) East Timor (1975-99) Korea (1945-53) Ecuador (1975) Albania (1949-53) Argentina (1976) Eastern Europe (1948-56) Pakistan (1977) Germany (1950s) Angola (1975-1980s) Iran (1953) Jamaica (1976) Guatemala (1953-1990s) Honduras (1980s) Costa Rica (mid-1950s, 1970-71) Nicaragua (1980s) Middle East (1956-58) Philippines (1970s-90s) Indonesia (1957-58) Seychelles (1979-81) Haiti (1959) South Yemen (1979-84) Western Europe (1950s-1960s) South Korea (1980) Guyana (1953-64) Chad (1981-82) Iraq (1958-63) Grenada (1979-83) Vietnam (1945-53) Suriname (1982-84) Cambodia (1955-73) Libya (1981-89) Laos (1957-73) Fiji (1987) Thailand (1965-73) Panama (1989) Ecuador (1960-63) Afghanistan (1979-92) Congo (1960-65, 1977-78) El Salvador (1980-92) Algeria (1960s) Haiti (1987-94) Brazil (1961-64) Bulgaria (1990-91) Peru (1965) Albania (1991-92) Dominican Republic (1963-65) Somalia (1993) Cuba (1959-present) Iraq (1990s) Indonesia (1965) Peru (1990-present) Ghana (1966) Mexico (1990-present) Uruguay (1969-72) Colombia (1990-present) Chile (1964-73) Yugoslavia (1995-99) Greece (1967-74) US Perversions of Foreign Elections ' '''The US has specifically intervened to rig or distort the outcome of foreign ' 'elections, and sometimes engineered sham "demonstration" elections to ward ' 'off accusations of government repression in allied nations in the US sphere ' 'of influence. These sham elections have often installed or maintained in ' 'power repressive dictators who have victimized their populations. Such ' '''practices have occurred in nations such as: Philippines (1950s) Italy (1948-1970s) Lebanon (1950s) Indonesia (1955) Vietnam (1955) Guyana (1953-64) Japan (1958-1970s) Nepal (1959) Laos (1960) Brazil (1962) Dominican Republic (1962) Guatemala (1963) Bolivia (1966) Chile (1964-70) Portugal (1974-75) Australia (1974-75) Jamaica (1976) El Salvador (1984) Panama (1984, 89) Nicaragua (1984, 90) Haiti (1987, 88) Bulgaria (1990-91) Albania (1991-92) Russia (1996) Mongolia (1996) Bosnia (1998) US Versus World at the United Nations ' '''The US has repeatedly acted to undermine peace and human rights initiatives ' 'at the United Nations, routinely voting against hundreds of UN resolutions ' 'and treaties. The US easily has the worst record of any nation on not ' 'supporting UN treaties. In almost all of its hundreds of "no" votes, the US ' 'was the "sole" nation to vote no (among the 100-130 nations that usually ' 'vote), and among only 1 or 2 other nations voting no the rest of the time. ' '''Here's a representative sample of US votes from 1978-1987: US Is the Sole "No" Vote on Resolutions or Treaties ' '''For aid to underdeveloped nations ' 'For the promotion of developing nation exports ' 'For UN promotion of human rights ' 'For protecting developing nations in trade agreements ' 'For New International Economic Order for underdeveloped nations ' 'For development as a human right ' 'Versus multinational corporate operations in South Africa ' 'For cooperative models in developing nations ' 'For right of nations to economic system of their choice ' 'Versus chemical and biological weapons (at least 3 times) ' 'Versus Namibian apartheid ' 'For economic/standard of living rights as human rights ' 'Versus apartheid South African aggression vs. neighboring states (2 times) ' 'Versus foreign investments in apartheid South Africa ' 'For world charter to protect ecology ' 'For anti-apartheid convention ' 'For anti-apartheid convention in international sports ' 'For nuclear test ban treaty (at least 2 times) ' 'For prevention of arms race in outer space ' 'For UNESCO-sponsored new world information order (at least 2 times) ' 'For international law to protect economic rights ' 'For Transport & Communications Decade in Africa ' 'Versus manufacture of new types of weapons of mass destruction ' 'Versus naval arms race ' 'For Independent Commission on Disarmament & Security Issues ' 'For UN response mechanism for natural disasters ' 'For the Right to Food ' 'For Report of Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination ' 'For UN study on military development ' 'For Commemoration of 25th anniversary of Independence for Colonial Countries ' 'For Industrial Development Decade in Africa ' 'For interdependence of economic and political rights ' 'For improved UN response to human rights abuses ' 'For protection of rights of migrant workers ' 'For protection against products harmful to health and the environment ' 'For a Convention on the Rights of the Child ' 'For training journalists in the developing world ' 'For international cooperation on third world debt ' '''For a UN Conference on Trade & Development US Is 1 of Only 2 "No" Votes on Resolutions or Treaties ' '''For Palestinian living conditions/rights (at least 8 times) ' 'Versus foreign intervention into other nations ' 'For a UN Conference on Women ' 'Versus nuclear test explosions (at least 2 times) ' 'For the non-use of nuclear weapons vs. non-nuclear states ' 'For a Middle East nuclear free zone ' 'Versus Israeli nuclear weapons (at least 2 times) ' 'For a new world international economic order ' 'For a trade union conference on sanctions vs. South Africa ' 'For the Law of the Sea Treaty ' 'For economic assistance to Palestinians ' 'For UN measures against fascist activities and groups ' 'For international cooperation on money/finance/debt/trade/development ' 'For a Zone of Peace in the South Atlantic ' 'For compliance with Intl Court of Justice decision for Nicaragua vs. US. ' '**For a conference and measures to prevent international terrorism ' '(including its underlying causes) ' '''For ending the trade embargo vs. Nicaragua US Is 1 of Only 3 "No" Votes on Resolutions and Treaties ' '''Versus Israeli human rights abuses (at least 6 times) ' 'Versus South African apartheid (at least 4 times) ' 'Versus return of refugees to Israel ' 'For ending nuclear arms race (at least 2 times) ' 'For an embargo on apartheid South Africa ' 'For South African liberation from apartheid (at least 3 times) ' 'For the independence of colonial nations ' 'For the UN Decade for Women ' 'Versus harmful foreign economic practices in colonial territories ' 'For a Middle East Peace Conference ' '''For ending the embargo of Cuba (at least 10 times) In addition, the US has: ' '''Repeatedly withheld its dues from the UN ' 'Twice left UNESCO because of its human rights initiatives ' 'Twice left the International Labor Organization for its workers rights ' 'initiatives ' 'Refused to renew the Antiballistic Missile Treaty ' 'Refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty on global warming ' 'Refused to back the World Health Organization's ban on infant formula abuses ' 'Refused to sign the Anti-Biological Weapons Convention ' 'Refused to sign the Convention against the use of land mines ' 'Refused to participate in the UN Conference Against Racism in Durban ' 'Been one of the last nations in the world to sign the UN Covenant on ' 'Political & ' 'Civil Rights (30 years after its creation) ' 'Refused to sign the UN Covenant on Economic & Social Rights ' 'Opposed the emerging new UN Covenant on the Rights to Peace, Development & ' '''Environmental Protection Sampling of Deaths >From US Military Interventions & Propping Up Corrupt ' '''Dictators (using the most conservative estimates) ' Nicaragua 30,000 dead Brazil 100,000 dead Korea 4 million dead Guatemala 200,000 dead Honduras 20,000 dead El Salvador 63,000 dead Argentina 40,000 dead Bolivia 10,000 dead Uruguay 10,000 dead Ecuador 10,000 dead Peru 10,000 dead Iraq 1.3 million dead Iran 30,000 dead Sudan 8-10,000 dead Colombia 50,000 dead Panama 5,000 dead Japan 140,000 dead Afghanistan 10,000 dead Somalia 5000 dead Philippines 150,000 dead Haiti 100,000 dead Dominican Republic 10,000 dead Libya 500 dead Macedonia 1000 dead South Africa 10,000 dead Pakistan 10,000 dead Palestine 40,000 dead Indonesia 1 million dead East Timor 1/3-1/2 of total population Greece 10,000 dead Laos 600,000 dead Cambodia 1 million dead Angola 300,000 dead Grenada 500 dead Congo 2 million dead Egypt 10,000 dead Vietnam 1.5 million dead Chile 50,000 dead ' ' 'Other Lethal US Interventions ' 'CIA Terror Training Manuals ' 'Development and distribution of training manuals for foreign military ' 'personnel or foreign nationals, including instructions on assassination, ' 'subversion, sabotage, population control, torture, repression, ' '''psychological torture, death squads, etc. Specific Torture Campaigns ' '''Creation and launching of direct US campaigns to support torture as an ' 'instrument of terror and social control for governments in Greece, Iran, ' '''Vietnam, Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama Supporting and Harboring Terrorists ''' '''The promotion, protection, arming or equiping of terrorists such as: . Klaus Barbie and other German Nazis, and Italian and Japanese fascists, ''' '''after WW II . Manual Noriega (Panama), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Rafael Trujillo ' '(Dominican Republic), Osama bin Laden (Afghanistan), and others whose ''' '''terrorism has come back to haunt us . Running the Higher War College (Brazil) and first School of the Americas ' '(Panama), which gave US training to repressors, death squad members, and ' '''torturers (the second School of the Americas is still running at Ft. ' '''Benning GA) . Providing asylum for Cuban, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Haitian, Chilean, ' '''Argentinian, Iranian, South Vietnamese and other terrorists, dictators, and ' '''torturers Assassinating World Leaders ' '''Using assassination as a tool of foreign policy, wherein the CIA has ' 'initiated assassination attempts against at least 40 foreign heads of state ' '(some several times) in the last 50 years, a number of which have been ' 'successful, such as: Patrice Lumumba (Congo), Rafael Trujillo (Dominican ' '''Republic), Ngo Dihn Diem (Vietnam) Salvador Allende (Chile) Arms Trade & US Military Presence ' '. The US is the world's largest seller of weapons abroad, arming ' '''dictators, militaries, and terrorists that repress or victimize their ' '''populations, and fueling scores of violent conflicts around the globe . The US is the world's largest provider of live land mines which, even in ''' '''peacetime, kill or injure at least several people around the world each day . The US has military bases in at least 50 nations around the world, which ''' '''have led to frequent victimization of local populations. . The US military has been bombing one Middle Eastern or Muslim nation or ' '''another almost continuously since 1983, including Lebanon, Libya, Syria, ' '''Iran, the Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq (almost daily bombings since 1991) This, then, is a sampling of American foreign policies over the last 50 ' '''years. The FBI uses the following definition for Terrorism: "The unlawful ' 'use of force or violence committed by a group or individual, who has some ' 'connection to a foreign power or whose activities transcend national ' 'boundaries, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a ' 'government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in furtherance ' 'of political or social objectives." This sounds like the terrorism we just ' 'experienced. It also sounds a lot like the US policies and actions since ' '''1945 that I've just described.